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A super generous free sample from Mandala with my last order! Woot!

What an unexpected tea this is. First cup of the day for me, vaguely remembered it’s unusual because it’s very, well, golden (the dry leaves are gorgeous, big long light golden branches), so I figured it’d be lighter and sweeter than black tea generally is but was still knocked for a loop—the brewed color is very unusual, not super light like white tea, not dark with warm brown tones like black tea, not bright golden green like green…just kind of its own thing. Hard to describe. And then the taste!—it’s so light-bright and sweet in this way that builds so that by the end of the cup your mouth sort of buzzes with an almost numbing (kind of like mint) quality mixed with a very clean sweetness. I’ve never tasted tea like this before. So glad I got to sample it—I think once Black Friday madness stockpiled orders settle down I will order some of this. Really unusual and great. It wakes up your palate in a different way than strong black tea, almost the opposite approach where the flavor is zingy (but not in a fruit-tart way thankfully) and so sparkling clean it refreshes you awake. And that sweetness is a beautiful accompaniment; delicious without being rich, it manages to fit right in in contributing to that feeling of bright refreshment.

Used quite a bit of leaf, probably nearly 2 teaspoons, because it’s one of those teas that’s hard to measure as it’s so fluffy-long and unbroken. (And because free Mandala samples are awesomely generous—I reckon I can make 2 more cups!)

God I love this tea. Had a wonderful weekend in North Carolina seeing Goblin and Zombi play and eating late night organic roasted veggie burritos in the college neighborhood (and making a quick stop into Trader Joe’s for crunchy cookie butter, marshmallows, pistachio brittle, and other assorted goodies! Also Bruegger’s, because my craving for the bagels I grew up with and are nowhere to be found in the South catches up with me this time of year), but I must admit the number one thing I missed aside from our cats was good daily tea. Steepster has ruined me for that stuff! If I’m not careful I’m going to wind up a fanatic who packs an electric kettle, eesh.

Anyway, this is my remedy now late at night as the bags are unpacked, the dishes are done, the cats fed and cuddled, and I’ve taken a much needed hot shower. It is every bit as drinks-like-a-meal satisfying, complex, sweet and astonishly rich as I remember. Yum! Just what I needed.

ETA that that Serious Eats pull quote is quite right; this is so unbelievably creamy-sweet it really does feel like there’s already milk in the cup.

What a ridiculously delicious tea this is. I think it might be my very favorite CTC now. Dry and steeping it has a chocolate-y aroma, and while strong it isn’t bitter or astringent at all to me. I liked my first cup so much I gave in against better judgment and made a 3 cup pot to go with lunch (so glad Harney samples are large enough you can do that! I still have about a cup’s worth left too). Great way to use up the last of the milk before we go out of town. Definitely want to restock this, though my stable of Harney breakfast blends is getting unruly…

Broke down, currently on the Steepster favored “Queen Catherine and a toasted bagel” (with lox and cream cheese) diet, ha. All of this Queen Catherine love got to me. And I’m glad, because this is exactly what I needed. Was in a foul mood this afternoon, sick of everything, hungry, cold, wondering where my husband was, stressed about our plans to be on the road for 11 hours tomorrow in icy rain…this made things better. So much better. Thank you keychange for your wonderful contagious enthusiasm.

I think I’m gonna hang in the towel after this one and just drink favorites for the rest of the night. Nothing new is tasting great to me, and I think it might be me today, not the tea.

This is tangy-orange more than sweet-orange, though it does have a creamy softness to it (not over-the-top, lightly so). It’s ok but I need to find my “screaming straight-up creamy sweet kiddie creamsicle” tea at some point. They’re all either too bright/zesty or too refined/soft to sate that particular craving. Hm.

The bergamot is STRONG dry, and still pretty assertive in the taste but less over-the-top. I’m seeing now lots of other Steepsters recommend a lower temp (I already cut the time from my normal 3 or 4 minutes to 2 based on the smell of the dry leaf). I will try that next time and see if it softens it. As it stands it’s not bad, but also not a favorite.

I had a headache and stomach ache last night and my throat’s a tad sore today so this seemed like a good choice to try. I love Steepster ‘cause there’s no way I’d have ever known about it otherwise. It’s nice—it seems navajo tea has a slightly sweet, earthy, grassy character, light and not one-note, that builds as you drink. The mint’s soothing, medicinal tasting. I’m curious how this would play with other teas, if it’d get swallowed up or serve as a nice complement.

CTC with the vaguely Grape Nuts-y smell of Grandpa’s Anytime Tea. Less complex (to be expected), not as much fruit but still full of flavor. With milk this is lovely. Someone else here said it’s like PG Tips that grew up at a better boarding school, which made me chuckle and is a great way of putting it.

This is quite a pleasant smoke blend. I don’t know if it’s just that I’m a plebe or what, but I’ve noticed most of the smoky blends I’ve tried since joining Steepster all please me (provided I’m in the mood for smokiness) in pretty much the same way, to roughly the same degree. It’s as if the smokiness takes care of any concerns about smoothness, astringency, bitterness, body, etc.; perhaps it’s just that the tea types used as the foundation to make smoky blends (lapsang souchong and keemun usually) tend to have qualities aside from that (medium-thick bodies, a sort of vanilla/chocolate-y thing underlining everything) that sit well with me. Whatever it is, anything more nuanced than the musty SMOKESMOKESMOKE one dimensional over-the-top feels-like-the-whole-tea-table-must-be-covered-in-soot lapsangs we drank at Crumpets years ago seems to get my approval. This is no exception. I have a big tin specially labeled for my “decent afternoon smoke break” teas—it’s got bits and bobs from lots of places: Upton Imports, Della Terra, New Mexico Tea Company, Harney and Sons, Lupicia, Samovar—and I like them all just about the same, where they’re interchangeable to me when that’s what I want. This will do nicely in that collection, one of the best of the lot, as compulsively drinkable as Upton’s Baker Street. It’s got that subtly sweet, choc-vanilla undercurrent I love and associate with keemuns, and the smoke is definitely present but it’s warm and gentle, not acrid or musty. The ashy quality of lapsang only comes out full strength in the aftertaste, and it’s kind of nice if you like that sort of thing because you’ve been primed by the sweet warmth at the front of the sip.

I keep saying it but I really appreciate Harney’s vast “strong black tea blends” collection and how impressively decent-to-great they are given there’s about a billion of them. They do a great job catering to legacy-style morning tea tastes but sourced and blended to be flavorful, smooth, balanced, and lovely.

Had for afternoon tea with an old easy peasy favorite I used to make with my parents, fresh-from-the-oven caramelized upside down pear tart ( http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Caramelized-Upside-Down-Pear-Tart-14504?id=14504 ).

This is not bad, smells and tastes like a sugary cupcake with sprinkles. Feels a bit redundant with Red Velvet, but this one has a black tea base (which you can taste a little more of as it cools) and the other’s rooibos IIRC. Not sure which I like better, and I have a feeling I prefer Fusion Teas Chocolate Cake Honeybush (they’re not terribly similar; CCH has a floral element that makes it seem a little more like grown up chocolate cake than kid’s birthday party-type…and I definitely feel there’s a place in the world for both types!) over both of those. Husband with his darling sweet tooth enjoyed it.